Greg and Sue Smith

When two Baptist ministers launched a legal aid ministry for immigrants in Virginia in the fall of 2016, it was aimed largely at helping Latinos attain and maintain legal residency. But Donald Trump’s election a couple months later, and his high-profile immigration crackdown since taking office, has slowed demand for Greg and Sue Smith’s LUCHA Immigration Legal Services in Fredericksburg, Va.

Yerendi Roblero was 6 months old when her parents took the family across the U.S. border from their native Mexico. “I pretty much grew up here, ” said Roblero, 21, of Fredericksburg, Va. It’s why the threat to end special protections for undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. since childhood concerns her and many others.

Mission work and ministry are taking on a dizzying array of new looks in the 21st century. Just ask Greg and Sue Smith, Baptist missionaries who spent years performing traditional mission work in Latin America before opening a ministry serving…

Primary Sidebar

Email Signup

Get BNG headlines in your inbox

Embracing the power of story

Our new Storytelling Project — under the topic “Faith & Justice” — is a series on Metanoia, a movement of people rooted in faith who invest in neighborhood assets to build leaders, establish quality housing and generate economic development in North Charleston, South Carolina.